In this episode we chat with Will McCoy, CEO of No Bully, about how being bullied at a young age and a kind encounter with a stranger inspired him to serve in an organization that provides bullying prevention programs around the world. Will was born with a genetic disorder which affected his bones. He was assigned nicknames and bullied by his peers. But a kind gesture from a friend changed his whole perspective. His whole life, Will struggled with being judged for this one aspect of his character but it taught him a very valuable lesson: you’re never given more than you can handle. He learned to be stronger than those that were teasing him and to help those that were struggling. Will made this his life’s work. He went on to specialize in working with at-risk populations of students, and those that were marginalized and left out. He connected on a deeper level with those students because he experienced that himself. Despite middle school being one of the worst experiences for him, Will went on to become a teacher. But not just any teacher, he went back to middle school. He saw how passionate and smart and eager middle school children were, and also how they struggled. Struggled to find their identity. So he said, ‘give me the kids that are struggling, the kids that are having the hardest time because they need us the most.’ How Can I Help More Kids?His motto is always ‘how can I help more kids?’ so it’s fitting that he went on to become an assistant principal. In order for him to help more kids he had to look at the whole school, not just the classroom. But he didn’t stop there. He wanted to help on a much broader scale so he soon went on to become a district superintendent. At this level he was able to turn whole schools and whole districts around. That’s when the opportunity to work for No Bully as a consultant came about. He was asked to write a job description for the VP of Education. He wrote that description and when he handed it to the founder, Nicholas Carlylesaid, he said, ‘I would apply for this job’. They obviously thought that was a great idea and offered him the position. Will came on full time for No Bully in July of last year and was offered the CEO position in the fall. In part because of the amazing work Will has done for the company, No Bully is able to help a quarter of a million kids. They work with amazing sponsors and Will is going to the Philippines at the end of the month to talk about a whole country distribution model with the Philippine government. Will’s whole outlook on being bullied some 40 year ago is that he is going to multiply the positive impact, reverberate that back into the universe a little bit and help whole countries worth of kids that are struggling. One in Three Kids is BulliedOne in three kids is bullied and if the World Health Organization were looking at this at a physical level, they would call it an epidemic. This is unacceptable and completely unnecessary, and it’s what drives Will and everyone at the No Bully office to go out and help these kids. Will says (14:00) ‘There is not a reason for kids to be bullied. We need to do better. We need to show compassion. We need to show empathy. We need to step up and say, just because people believe this is part of growing up doesn't mean it has to be.’ But with this digital world we live in, cyber bullying is the newest hurdle on Will’s plate. So he is focusing on trying to find a way to eradicate cyber bullying. Nich asks Will (16:03) ‘What are the commonalities between both adolescents and adults in bullying and what are some of the differences?’ Will goes on to explain how many children are being raised without people leaning in on morals and values and ethics, which is setting them up for failure. Will then goes on to say (17:00) ‘We're seeing on a broad scale in our nation right now, gun violence, mass shootings. There's a lot of conversation that has been missing here. How, how can a young person get to the point where they believe